Needs More Love
"I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love."—Linus Van Pelt, A Charlie Brown Christmas
Sometimes, a show has it all: great characters, fascinating plot, cool action scenes, compelling mysteries, etc etc. But. It just fails to achieve any considerably high profile. Whatever the reason - it may have been overshadowed by another show aired at the same time, or its authors decided to cut on promotion and invest into production, or it was Too Good to Last, - its popularity is so small that it can't even be considered a Cult Classic because, well, there aren't enough fans to even call them a "cult". The little fandom that the show has, however, is fiercely dedicated, so whenever you read a brilliant Fanfic, a fantastic article, or watch a mind-blowing Fan Vid about a show you've never even heard about, it's their work. And the show Needs More Love.
Naturally, this trait is not limited to just TV series: Films, Video Games, and music styles commonly fall victim to it. However, due to pure subjectivity of the definition above, listing all the works of fiction in need of love is probably a bad idea. We also advise against listing people who need more love on this wiki; there are other websites for that sort of thing.
The motivation of many an Entry Pimp. Contrast Troper Critical Mass.
In All The Tropes, we have our own list of things that need more love
- The entire point of Home Of The Underdogs.
- IGN has an award for this in games: Best Game No One Played. Recipients have included such gems as Psychonauts and Beyond Good and Evil.
- Gamespot had an identical award. Later on, they inverted the trope by introducing the "Worst Game Everyone Played" award. The first recipient was the mediocre GTA clone Jaws Unleashed, and it was accompanied with a video featuring Alex Navarro expressing his outrage on said game having sold five times more than Psychonauts.
- During a 'Game of the Year' feature in Electronic Gaming Monthly, Persona 3 was given an award for being "The Most Controversial Game That Caused No Controversy". Considering that Persona 3 had subplots featuring student/teacher dating, references to teen suicide, more occult imagery than you can shake a pentagram at, Satan, Lucifer, and Beelzebub, and lots of tender moments between teenagers, this reward was extremely merited. Note that this was the same year that Mass Effect garnered piles of media attention for being a pornographic simulator.
- The Overlooked Manga Festivals, which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
- Many independent video game review sites focus on obscure cult classics, such as Hardcore Gaming 101 and That Guy With The Glasses .com contributor Benzaie's Video Review Show Games You Might Don't Know But That Are Still Pretty Damn Sweet [sic].
- The Happy Video Game Nerd, the inversion of The Angry Video Game Nerd. He reviews old, obscure, but really sweet games.
- Game Pro once called out the video gaming fandom, using this trope.
"Four million copies of promotional games sold, while perfectly-good copies of Okami gather dust on the shelves?!"
- Movies You May Have Missed: Seen here. Two guys who just seriously want to tell you about good movies out there that didn't get enough eyeballs on them the first time around. They make it a point to choose movies that they actually like (even if there's some parts that are just silly) and not just ones that are So Bad It's Good.
- The Musical Chair by Nash features various music performers that he considers underappreciated.
- Apollo Z Hack who reviews obscure, more cult hit type movies that he often feels deserve more exposure.
- The entire point of video game music podcast Nitro Game Injection. From the FAQ on the website: "We have an undying love and appreciation for video game music, and the various arrangement/remix scenes surrounding it. We want to share this music with the world, and to give exposure to this great art form. We want to let you know about great musicians and arrangers that you may have never heard of to encourage you to check out more works from them. That is essentially why we have created these shows."
- Frankomatic's Obscure Game Theater.
- The Red Team Round Table reviews media that may not have gotten the attention they deserve on their release and operates on the notion that many things are under appreciated.